A National Report on the Broadcast Industry’s Community Service APRIL 1998 “IT’S JUST THE MINDSET OF A BROADCASTER TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY AND TO BE INVOLVED.” Jerry Watson General Manager KTTC-TV Rochester, Minnesota BLANK PAGE page ii TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 RESEARCH METHOD 5 BROADCASTERS’ COMMITMENT BY THE NUMBERS 6 BEYOND MEASURE: THE EVERYDAY COMMITMENT OF BROADCASTERS TO THEIR COMMUNITIES 11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ince the first commercial radio station went on the air earlier this century, America’s broadcasters have been committed to S serving the communities in which they operate. It is a promise that predates passage of the Radio Act of 1927, with its charge to broadcasters to “serve the public interest, convenience and necessity.” In the process of fulfilling this pledge, broadcasters have become part of the fabric of the towns and cities they serve, so heavily in- volved in so many different activities that they are an integral part of each community’s quality of life. A Year of Service This year, the National Association of Broadcasters celebrates its 75th anniversary. The first wave of digital television stations is $4.6 Billion scheduled to go on the air. And radio is preparing for its own tran- Projected value of PSA air time sition to digital broadcasting. NAB is marking this watershed year donated by TV and Radio Stations in our history with the release of a national report on our industry’s and National Networks community service accomplishments. The report’s conclusion is that community service – at least the fraction that can be quantified $2.1 Billion – amounted to $6.85 billion over 12 months. Projected amount raised for charities/causes by TV & Radio But even that incredible number doesn’t tell the whole story. Broad- $148.4 Million casters’ community service is diverse, enormously valuable and has a major impact on communities all across America, in large part be- Projected value of free air time donated by TV & Radio Stations cause each individual station has the latitude to serve its audience’s and National Networks for unique and specific needs. Radio and television broadcasters invest Debates, Candidate Forums and enormous amounts of both programming and non-programming time Convention Coverage in serving their communities. Public service announcements, to be sure, are a significant part of that effort – $4.26 billion a year, an TOTAL: $6.85 Billion average of nearly a million dollars per TV station and $400,000 per radio station. (That’s 137 and 122 spots per week, respectively, the majority of which are locally produced or about local issues.) But they are only the beginning of on-air activities. And much of what stations do to serve their communities is off the air as well. More than nine out of ten stations say they help charities, charitable causes or needy individuals by fund-raising or offering other sup- port – a projected total of $2.1 billion per year. That figure includes countless telethons, blood drives, Thanksgiving dinners for the home- less, Christmas presents, immunization clinics, and a long list of other activities that are both on the air and off. What it cannot include is the value of thousands of genuine human stories, the very real faces and names whose lives come into contact with their local broadcasters and are changed for the better – lives saved by timely mammograms made possible because one station saw an unmet need in a poor neighborhood, or by another station’s child-abuse hotline. 2 There are also times when local broadcasters can literally mean the difference between life and death. After major disasters, stations help gather and distribute emergency supplies. They help coordi- nate emergency evacuations and tell those affected where to go for help. They provide a lifeline to those who have lost power and running water but can still find a small portable radio or TV. The evening news tells their stories, and whether it’s victims of floods, fires, earthquakes, mudslides, hurricanes, or terrorist bombings, they all have one thing in common: they all turn to broadcasters for help. No price tag can be placed on the value of these voluntary lifesaving efforts. Furthering the public dialogue on political issues and candidates is another important broadcaster contribution. Nearly half of the sta- tions that received surveys provide free airtime for political candi- dates – $148.4 million worth of free time freely given in the form of debates, issue forums, convention coverage and the like, as well as campaigns to encourage voting and profile candidates’ stands on Virtually all focus the issues. It is just such information that voters say they find most heavily on local helpful in making their decisions. As the quantitative section of this report documents, however, many station offers are declined by events, issues candidates – as much as $15.1 million worth of airtime in 1996, and institutions. based on the average airtime values of events that were actually held. In doing so, they Station executives and on-air talent also spend countless hours of reach out and donated time appearing at public events and serving on boards and mobilize their commissions, and their colleagues typically follow that example. audiences, helping One television station in Rochester, Minnesota, polled its 51 em- ployees and found they had commitments to 138 charitable organi- their communities zations. These, too, are immeasurable contributions. help themselves. There are as many different approaches to community service as there are different stations serving different audiences. But virtu- ally all focus heavily on local events, issues and institutions. In do- ing so, they reach out and mobilize their audiences, helping their communities help themselves. More than 75 percent of stations say they consult with local community leaders in deciding which issues and causes to address. Radio and TV stations rally civic pride and prod local government to do the right thing. They work with schools to collect resources and materials. They send sick children across the country to specialty hospitals and help those hospitals keep their doors open. They raise money for symphony orchestras. They build homes for the homeless and provide coats to poor families. The list goes on and on. 3 But it all comes down to helping people in communities: ■ WNNN-AM in Salem, New Jersey, has helped to build hous- ing for seven needy families in their area, at a value of $350,000. ■ Two sister stations in rural Nebraska raised the money to train three paramedics for a county that had none. ■ WZZK-AM/FM radio in Birmingham, Alabama, held a drive that collected 15,000 pints of blood in one day. ■ WXYZ-TV in Detroit sponsors a fair that for two decades has immunized 2,000 inner-city children every year. Sometimes it’s one single family. When Shawn Guyer, a young boy in Pennsylvania, had to have both arms and legs amputated due to the spread of his leukemia, WIKZ-FM/WCHA-AM in Chambersburg set up a trust fund to help his family deal with the financial and emotional strain. One fall morning last year the sta- tions’ morning team hit the airwaves with the goal of raising enough money to purchase a specially equipped van for Shawn and his fam- ily. The morning program begins at 9 a.m., but the team stayed on until that evening taking contributions. Listeners lined up through- out the building to give donations in person, offering to babysit, alter Shawn’s clothes, even renovate the family’s home. Local busi- nesses matched the donations of their employees. A local car dealer- ship donated the van the family so desperately needed. In the end, the station raised almost $200,000 to help a single needy family. Again, one can’t put a price tag on what these activities meant to these beneficiaries, and they’re only a few of the thousands of activi- ties stations are involved in every day. But it is worthwhile to begin to quantify the industry’s measurable community service contribu- tions, and document the many that are beyond value to set the record straight on what stations do for their local communities. This report is the result of that effort. Forty-two percent of stations responded to the survey. That unusually high return rate provides a high level of confidence in the accuracy of the numbers. It makes us proud to be one of the largest providers – at nearly $7 billion a year – of community service in the nation. This research will help us find things we haven’t measured and ways that stations can learn from one another. After 75 years of service, it is a record of which all broadcasters should be proud. 4 RESEARCH METHOD The National Association of Broadcasters, in partnership with the state broadcaster associations from all 50 states, commissioned a research project among television and radio station executives throughout the United States to determine the extent of station participation in community service activities over the 12-month timespan from August 1, 1996 to July 31, 1997. The National Association of The research project was completed in three waves. An initial wave Broadcasters, in of mail surveys was completed among broadcast executives in Ari- zona and Minnesota between August 1 and September 12, 1997, to partnership with the test the instrument. A second wave of mail surveys covering the state broadcaster rest of the United States and the District of Columbia was com- associations from all 50 pleted between October 1, 1997 and January 31, 1998. Finally, a survey of the national networks was mailed in January 1998 and states, commissioned a completed on March 10.